their agenda depends on the status of the fiscal cliff negotiations. debate is possible in both chambers on any possible deal. live coverage at the house here on c-span and the senate on c- span 2. >> now a look at the war in syria and the potential for ssad regime.the a joined by former state department analyst, this is just over an hour. >> thank you, everybody, for coming this afternoon for a very timely discussion. on behalf of our chairman of the board, i want to welcome everybody to the center for national policy. i am the senior fellow for the middle list -- for the middle east here at cnp. we will discuss what is in store for the post-assad syria. mark twain once said that news of my death has been greatly exaggerated. since the spring of 2011, that was probably the case for the assad regime of syria. but in the last couple of months, we have seen things changing. we see robling territory, not just attacking and retreating, but actually holding ground. we have seen the russians equivocating on their support for the assad regime. and we have eve